Looking at my statistics earlier, I saw that someone had visited this site today from Côte d’Ivoire (hi). Or, if you prefer, The Ivory Coast. Obviously Côte d’Ivoire is French, and The Ivory Coast is English, but you might have noticed that Côte d’Ivoire is often used in English as the name of the country, even though we usually translate names of countries into English. Why do we make an exception in the case of Côte d’Ivoire then?
Well, let’s start with where it doesn’t come from.
It’s not, as you might have heard, an acronym of North, East, West, and South. This is a popular misconception, usually claimed to be based on the idea that news comes from all directions.
While this sounds cute, it’s really not the way words are formed at all. As I’ve pointed out before.
Instead, the truth is a bit stranger.
I’ll just be a minute!
This isn’t just! It’s not fair at all!
Here we can see two very different uses of the word just. How is it that we use it in such different ways?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have been nominated for two awards today (actually Tuesday 09/01/18), so I’ll answer the questions from both together.
I had a most shocking experience recently. I’m fortunate to be a part of a lovely bloggers’ group, Blogs in Bloom. People share their blog posts, and social-media links, and everyone is invited to read, share, and comment.
Of course you let the people know that you’ve read, or liked, or shared their post, by commenting under their link. Something simple like Commented! or Read and liked! At first, anyway…
Do you ever see pretentious French terms on menus and wish you knew what they meant without having to look up their meaning? Perhaps you choose a dish in a restaurant which includes sautéd greens, but you have no idea what they exactly are. Well, let me help you with this one at least. And talk about Ancient Greek philosophers and heraldry too, naturally.
A little more Greek mythology for you.
The other day, I wrote about the Furies, and as usual I initially confused them a little with the Fates.
English-Language Thoughts 